What does this mean to you? There is significant competition for top talent. Prospects have options (including staying where they are) and they will choose the role that is best for them. Companies need to sell their opportunities and ‘court’ prospective employees. Additionally, the entire recruiting process needs to be professional, organized and impactful as to not hinder your ability to get the people you want for your organization.

Knowing What’s Important to Candidates

While compensation is always important to candidates, there are often things that are equally and/or more important as well. In order to attract candidates to your opportunity it is essential to provide the right information about the opportunity that will get prospects excited about the role and company.

Challenge – Consistently one of the top criteria is the challenge that the role will offer

Growth – Growth in their opportunity to learn new things, gain new experience and advance in the organization

People – The people they work with (peers) and for (manager and executive team)

Flexibility – Flexibility is becoming more important (flex-schedules and remote options)

Hiring Tips

Your recruiting and hiring process will be judged by the prospects it touches and will affect your marketplace recruiting brand.

Courting the Prospect:

Know how to sell your company and opportunity—Why would someone who is gainfully employed and not particularly unhappy leave your competitor and come work for you?

Understand what is most important to them and what criteria they are using to evaluate the opportunity and organization. Make sure they get a good sense for how this opportunity and the company can make a positive impact on their professional life.

While your company may not provide everything from the “Knowing What’s Important to Candidates” section, review and highlight for candidates the ones you do offer/provide.

Hiring Process:

Have a consistent and defined hiring process that you can communicate to prospects. Nothing is worse than not getting any feedback, or waiting to find out if there will be a next step and not knowing when you will hear from the employer—Over communicate.

Set a reasonable pace to the hiring process. Remember, you are competing for top talent. A slow process will cause you to lose the top talent you are interested in—before you even get the chance to make an offer. Additionally, it gives prospects insight into your decision making process.

Immediately debrief with your team to evaluate the candidate after the interview; schedule 15 minutes on calendars as an extension of the interview. This will enable you to quickly determine next steps and keep the process moving.

Interview Tips:

Write down in detail the must haves, nice to haves and personality criteria you need to see for this role. Use that to develop interview questions.

Consider the best mix for your interviewing team and have each person focus on specific things. Keep this consistent throughout the process. Divide the questions amongst your team. Set goals for each interviewer (do you have a tech expert on the team? Maybe they focus on software use). Some overlap is OK. This will provide consistent feedback and a comprehensive overview for each.

Who is going to ‘sell’ the opportunity and highlight the challenges and opportunities that will make the role interesting?

Consider a more conversational approach to interviewing. It is important for both the interviewer and candidate to 1) gain insight and 2) get a feel for personality and cultural fit.

Interviewing and hiring the right person has to be important to you and that importance will be gauged by your actions not your words.

Testimonials

"Louie was very helpful and enthusiastic. His knowledge of the company helped to guide conversation and lead to a positive experience."

Placed Candidate, Automotive Industry

"Deborah has been the best and most professional consultant I have worked with. Her coaching and support have been invaluable and the trust my employer has in her played a vital role. I wish Deb all the best and will certainly recommend Variant Partners to my network."

Electronics Manufacturer

"I've worked with other recruiting firms in the past, but Variant Partners really stands out. I have been very impressed with how well Variant Partners looks after the candidate's interests, with note review/editing, excellent literature to aid with interview preparation, and with coaching in general. You definitely bring a human touch to recruiting, better than most firms do.
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Candidate, Industrial Automation

"[The Energy Team at] VP did a great job matching a position with my skills and experience! They understood the industry that I work in and were current on the events taking place within the industry. I would definitely recommend VP to a friend or colleague."

Placed Candidate, Energy Industry Staff Regulatory Attorney

"They have demonstrated that they are interested in maintaining a long-term relationship with their clients. Very impressive relationship building! I would highly recommend!"

VP of Human Resources, Industrial

"David [and his team] were very helpful in summarizing my options for me in acceptance of [their client's] offer."

Placed Candidate, Tier One Automotive Supplier

"Robin was very professional and truly listened to my concerns about finding the right place for me. It was a difficult decision to leave my previous employer, but she encouraged me every step of the way. I'm in my second week with [my new employer], and it is going very well."

Placed Candidate, Manufacturing

"Highly professional and effective recruiting process!"

VP Human Resources, Industrial

"Mike Nowak was continuously making sure that I was taken care of and he would follow up on every email. It was a very good experience."

Placed Candidate, Maufacturing

"Your recruiters throughout the entire process were extremely professional and personal. Great communication and rapport! Jim Miles is by far the best recruiter that I have ever worked with in my past 17 years of professional experience."

Senior Account Manager, Software Company

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